Lincolnshire Counties Champs 800m Long Distance Results
27th February 2009 at Corby Long Course Pool

Fantastic Start for Deepings Swimmers at the Counties!

The Wray Family Are Riding High!

Lauren Wray Placed 2^nd in the Open & Setting Midland & National Times & a New County Age Group Record!

Alex Wray Wins His Age Group & sets a New County Age Group Record!

7 New Long Course PB Achieved!

Deepings swimmers got off to a strong start on the second weekend of this year's Lincolnshire’s County Age Group Championships at the Corby’s International 50m Pool. All our swimmers gave gutsy performances and many grabbed the chance to excel, as big personal best times were gained and Lauren Wray achieved her 800m Freestyle National Qualifying time in style.

14 year old Lauren Wray had an excellent swim in her heat of the 1500m Freestyle on Valentine’s Day where she finished in 3^rd place. She clearly mastered Corby’s 50m pool. On Saturday she was back to take on the 800m Freestyle, an event she finished second in last year. Once again she gave a gutsy swim and it became clear the battle for 1^st place was between Lauren and Lincoln Vulcan’s Lauren Freeman who had beaten her last year by over 5 seconds. Our Lauren showed she was strong and skilfully stayed with the Vulcans girl, and they went head to head with never more than a few strokes between them throughout the race. After a battling display Lauren was touched into second place, but this time was only a second behind the winner. Lauren is excelling at this distance and I’m sure that this time next year she will have the gold medal in her hands. She easily set her Midland and National Qualifying Times and it could also be a New County Record – but this still needs to be ratified. Congratulations!

Alex Wray was our youngest competitor to compete on Saturday. Alex has been making excellent progress over this past year and has qualified for 13 events at Counties, an achievement in itself. This was his first major competition at this tough 800m Freestyle event ... and long course too!  A Brucie would say “Didn’t he do well?” Alex set a time 39 seconds faster than he has ever gone before ... and what a time to do it. He finished top of his age group which is marvellous news and his time could be a New Country Age Group Record subject to ratification. I’m sure this will boost his confidence going into the next weeks County competition. Congratulations! 

Elisha Penman has been making steady progress in the 800m event. She went to the Midlands in 2008 but didn’t peruse this event much last year. After an excellent swim at club champs where she qualified for the Counties she was here attempting the event long course – and with some success!  She managed to achieve a 15 second PB and was placed 5^th in her age group. It is still early days but I’m sure she is capable of achieving another MQT this year if she wants to.   An excellent performance!

Chris Barrett is a gutsy swimmer and always gives very best each time he swims. This showed in his performance in the 800m Freestyle on Saturday, where he dipped under 10 minutes long course for the second time.  He beat his entry time by a whopping 14 seconds – even more impressive given this was achieved at the Club Champs in September. This is an excellent start to his championships - keep up the good work and congratulations on your New Long Course PB – A wonderful swim!

Samara McKnight swam the 800m Freestyle at the Counties for the very first time last year short course and set a new PB. This time she was back attempting it long course.  I’m pleased to say Samara set a new long course PB and matched her entry time set at the Club Champs in September. We wish her well at Louth next weekend. Well Done!

Grace Lamsdale was swimming this event long course for the very first time at counties too. The new Corby pool proved to be quite a challenge for her although she swam a good race but was a little off the pace. She did however achieve her 1^st ever long course PB. Grace has qualified for 7 more events, an excellent achievement and we wish her well. Well Done!

Sadly Marcus Cook contracted a virus at the start of the year which has kept him out of the water for three weeks but I am told he is now building himself back up - which does take time.  It is still unclear as to whether he will be back well fighting fit for the Counties over the next three weekends, and I’m told by his father Andy that he will probably be selective in his events to give himself the best chance of doing well. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him competing at his best very soon.

The first two Championship events have produced some superb swims from our Deepings swimmers, which goes to show they are reaping the rewards for the quality and quantity of training that they have committed themselves to over the past few months.  Hard work in the winter is the foundation of good swims in the Spring and Summer!

Hopefully we will have a few winners as we go through the County Championships - which start in earnest next weekend in Louth.

 Event: 6. LASA 800m Freestyle Males

Event: 8. LASA 800m Freestyle, Female,